


Look who came crawling back

by ApatheticLexicographer



Category: Code Geass
Genre: Angst, Because I'm apparently allergic to sad endings, It's literally just a reunion fic. That's it, Lelouch is alive!, Lelouch is immortal now I guess, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, Suzaku has trauma yall, blood mention, mild panic attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27400768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApatheticLexicographer/pseuds/ApatheticLexicographer
Summary: "No."Zero stares at the dead man and the dead man stares back. Except he doesn't, he can't because it's been years and his body is buried deep under the ground and if maggots didn't eat them first then his eyes rotted away a long long time ago. The eyes (brilliant violet without a trace of red) blink at him, and if he didn't know better Zero could swear that there were tears welling up in them.
Relationships: Kururugi Suzaku/Lelouch Lamperouge | Lelouch vi Britannia
Comments: 3
Kudos: 89





	Look who came crawling back

"No."

Zero stares at the dead man and the dead man stares back. Except he doesn't, he _can't_ because it's been years and his body is buried deep under the ground and if maggots didn't eat them first then his eyes rotted away a long long time ago. The eyes (brilliant violet without a trace of red) blink at him, and if he didn't know better Zero could swear that there were tears welling up in them.

He jerks back, gloved hand flashing to the holster of his gun. The dead man holds his hands out with the palms up as if Zero is some wild animal he's luring into a cage. His fingers are long and thin, just how Zero remembers. _Just_ how he remembers; there isn't a single wrinkle on his body that wasn't there before he died.

"Wait, Suzaku, don't-"

Zero snarls. "Don't act like you fucking know me." Fingers tighten around the grip of his gun, sliding into a position so familiar he's practically worn grooves into the weapon. This, at least, is real. Fighting comes as naturally as breathing to him and even the sick feeling in the pit of his being as he takes another life has abated to only a dull self loathing. His morals used to be his only redeeming quality, what does that make him now? A weapon, of no more value than his gun? A meaningless threat for politicians to throw around, knowing he will always obey the Empress? He's a mockery of what Zero once stood for and everyone knows it.

The dead-man-walking-corpse-ghost takes another step forward and Zero doesn't stop him. This close he can see a flash of red around the body's neck where the top button of his shirt is left undone. A familiar symbol sits snug around his neck like a noose, and Zero thinks he might throw up.

"No." Hands tighten around the gun but he has yet to draw it. 

"I'm sorry." The dead man chokes and Zero thinks of blood bubbling out of his mouth, hot and red and staining everything it touches. "C.C., she gave me her code. Said she couldn't face handing out another contract."

He's dead, they couldn't have a funeral but Zero watched them lower the body into the grave - no casket, nobody would sell them one. He still visits it from time to time, leaves tiny paper cranes and runs his fingers over the headstone that reads _Julius Kingsley_ because if they used his real name it would be dug up and destroyed. He doesn't visit every week anymore, not even every month, just when he feels more helpless or useless than usual, or more often when he feels so bitterly angry about being left behind. It's pathetic, really, how reliant he is on a man who's been dead longer than they knew each other.

"It's been eight years." His voice is flat and his shoulders are square but inside he's shaking, trembling like he might come apart at any minute. "You've been dead for eight years. Why..." Why what? Why any of it.

The dead man quirks his lips as if he knows what Zero means, even if Zero himself isn't sure. "I never meant to come back. I've been in Europe mostly, although I never could settle. C.C. and I travel together occasionally, but more often not. Is that what you wanted to know?"

Zero makes a frustrated noise. "No! Why- why _now_? It's been eight years and suddenly you just-just waltz in here like you're still a fucking Emperor and I didn't feel your blood drying on my skin for weeks!" (Weeks is an understatement, sometimes no matter how hard he scrubs at his hands he can still feel the sticky, viscous liquid seeping through his gloves, and by that point he's made himself bleed anyway so it only gets worse)

The dead-

Lelouch.

Lelouch stares at him, eyes as vacant as they were in death but for the way they sparkle. "I really don't know."

Zero laughs then, as manically as Lelouch used to (still does?). He laughs and once he starts he can't stop and it's echoing around the mask and he's gasping but he can't /breathe/ and-

Warm hands wrap around the back of his head and release the catch, slowly tugging the mask off and setting it beside them on the floor. When did he go from standing to kneeling? The hands are stroking through his hair, tucking strands in need of cutting behind his ears. He's still shaking helplessly, occasional giggles forcing their way out of his mouth, but he focuses on the feeling of hands cupping his cheeks and before too long the only sounds in the room are their breaths and their heartbeats.

"Suzaku," Lelouch murmurs, and god it feels good to be called that again. He hasn't been called by that name since- well, since Lelouch died, and that thought is almost enough to tip him back into mania but instead he just crumples into Lelouch's arms.

"I hate you" he murmurs into the dark. Lelouch tenses, looks away, starts to retreat but Suzaku clasps their hands together and presses them back against his cheeks. "Don't go. Don't you dare leave me again. Stay with me, please, stay here in the palace. We can tell Nunnally, she'll keep you secret until the day she dies. Just stay with me."

"I can't." Lelouch smiles but those must have been tears after all because they're running down his cheeks without a sound now, and Suzaku can feel two warm streaks of liquid tracing down his face so he knows he must look the same. "You know I can't." A thumb comes up to swipe at Suazku's tear trails, smudging the salt water away. "But. You could come away with me."

Come… away? Leave? Now? The symbol of the people, disappearing overnight without a word? "You're kidding." Suzaku draws back and their linked hands fall into his lap. "You're kidding, right?"

Violet eyes flicker closed. "When I died, the world needed Zero. Now, though, his purpose seems to have been served. To be honest I think I underestimated how well the people would take to freedom, but Zero has ceased to be a force for change. Much longer and you’ll probably find yourself as an honorary member of the gentry for your services."

It's true, he knows, but hearing it said out loud still stings a little regardless. "What, you're saying I've stagnated?"

"In effect, yes."

Suzaku sucks in a breath. "Could I really leave that easily? Wouldn't I be missed? Won't people recognize me?" He's clutching at straws now, desperate to find the reason for not going that he's sure must exist. 

"I wasn't recognized, even a mere month after my 'death'. As for being missed they'll no doubt search for you, but if you leave the mask behind they won't have a clue where to start."

Suzaku rests his forehead against Lelouch's. "You're insane. And ridiculous. You're… alive."

Lelouch smirks. "That's not a no."

Suzaku only smiles and leans forward that last fraction to kiss Lelouch, the way he hasn't in eight years.

"It isn't."

**Author's Note:**

> Written on my phone at 3am last night. Take that as you will.


End file.
